Bigger ‘Bang’ for CBS and a Season High for ABC Drama; ‘Idol’ Continues to Slide

CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” continued to rack up numbers worthy of television’s top-rated sitcom while ABC celebrated a turnout for “Scandal” that equaled the drama’s season high, based on Nielsen overnights for Thursday prime time.

Fox’s “American Idol,” meanwhile, continued to see viewer erosion, and NBC again failed to come close to the audience size of its Big 4 rivals.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports a little bit of good news for NBC, where the season premiere of “Community” managed a 1.8 in the key 18-49 demo — up 6% from the show’s previous season premiere back in September 2011 and up a healthy 38% from the season finale back in May.

The top show of the night by far was CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” with a 6.1 average rating in viewers 18-49 — up 13% from a week ago. “Two and a Half Men” was also up, 5%, to a 4.1, while “Elementary” also rose 5% to a 2.3. “Person of Interest” held steady with a 3.2.

Fox’s “Idol” settled for a 4.1 in the 18-49 demo, slipping 8% from last week, while “Glee” rose 5% to a 2.2.

ABC, which led off prime time with a low-rated repeat of “Shark Tank” (1.3 in 18-49), saw its fortunes improve with ‘Grey’s Anatomy” — up 11% from last week to a 3.1 — and “Scandal” — up 4% to a 2.8, matching its season high.

Leading out from “Community,” NBC notched a season high for “Parks and Recreation” with a 2.0 average in viewers 18-49, up 18% from the previous original episode. On the other hand, “1600 Penn” fell to a series low with a 1.1, down 15%, while “Do No Harm” fell a hefty 22% from last week’s premiere to a disturbingly low 0.7. “The Office” was steady with last week at a 2.1.

When the dust settled, CBS was on top for prime time overall with a 3.5 average in viewers 18-49, followed by Fox (3.1 average), ABC (2.4), Univision (1.7) and NBC (1.4). CBS had a comfortable margin in total viewers, averaging 14.2 million to Fox’s 9.6 million, ABC’s 7.2 million, Univision’s 4.0 million and NBC’s 3.2 million.